


The Atoms in Your Body Are as Old as Every Dinosaur

by Summertime_Poet



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: (also- i'm sorry), (only tagging this m/m for the implication that they're together later in their teens), Hurt/Comfort, Kid!Fic, M/M, jup, mostly sad kid!Jim and kid!Bones trying to make him feel better
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-11
Updated: 2015-05-11
Packaged: 2018-03-30 02:17:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3919120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Summertime_Poet/pseuds/Summertime_Poet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>George Kirk has to leave for work again. His almost six-year-old son Jim isn't happy about this, considering that his daddy works in space, far, far away.<br/>His best friend Leonard, who lives next door, sees him sitting on the sidewalk the night Jim's father left. He tries to calm the younger boy, but it's not easy- and it takes making some comparisons to make space appear less scary (to both of them) than it is...</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Atoms in Your Body Are as Old as Every Dinosaur

The small boy's frame, illuminated by the full moon's light, was crouched and shaking violently. One could barely hear his sobbing noises and probably wouldn't even have seen him sitting there in the dark weren't one explicitly looking for him.  
The curtain behind the second-floor window of the house next door moved a tiny bit as a small hand let go of it.  
He was aware that his friend knew about his dad having left for work again that day, but he apparently hadn't been aware that Leonard was worried about his reaction to that. He winced as a slightly taller, just as slim frame appeared next to him. He hadn't heard him coming.

Instantly noticing that he had startled the blond boy, Leonard sank down to his knees and sat down next to Jim, placing a hand on his shoulder.  
The younger boy hadn't acknowledged his presence yet except by his startled reaction. He hadn't even looked up once to meet Leonard's concerned glance. Moments later, the blonde boy was sobbing again, and Leonard let his hand slip down from his shoulder in order to wrap it around Jim's waist and pull him closer, into a half hug.

A few minutes of silence, only disrupted by Jim's expression of grief and woe, later, the younger boy piped up- still not facing his friend, as if he was talking to himself.  
"I... I won't see him for almost three years! He... he was already gone for two years, this ain't fair!" His small hands formed fists, his fingers digging so deeply into his palm that they were close to drawing blood.  
"Jim! ... Jim! Dammit, kid! Jim! Look at me!" Leonard placed his free left hand on one of Jim's hands and had to turn around to do so. Jim had no chance to escape his gaze now. He gulped, staring at his brown haired friend through eyes that were red and almost dry from crying ever since George Kirk had left to San Francisco hours ago.  
"Jim..." Leonard looked at him sadly. "Hurting yourself won't help a single bit." The almost six-year-old mirrored his facial expression, only looking dozens of times sadder than his best friend for he wouldn't see his dad again until his ninth birthday.  
Leonard couldn't stand seeing him so unhappy and heartbroken, but, despite being only eight years old, knew quite well that some things simply couldn't be made better by words or actions alone. Some things just weren't changeable, and he knew for a fact that adult stuff like work wasn't in their range of influence. He sighed deeply and pulled Jim into a hug again, letting the younger boy's head rest against his shoulder.

The two of them sat there, quietly as Jim had stopped crying the moment Leonard had started speaking to him, looking at the night sky. It was dark and one couldn't see many stars, but a few bright ones were visible through the trees that had been planted along their street anyway.  
When he was sure that he would have his friend's attention, Leonard raised his arm and pointed at one of the brightest stars up above them. "See that one?" Jim nodded. Then opened his mouth as if to say something, before closing it again. Leonard waited with what he had wanted to say, knowing that if it was important to him, Jim should tell him what occupied his thoughts.  
"He... he'll be farther away than this star. Much farther away... What if something happens to him...?" Jim's voice broke and Leonard hugged him a little bit tighter, knowing his friend to be on the verge of crying again. He waited a moment to make sure he wouldn't interrupt Jim should he want to continue talking, before speaking up.  
"Jim- your dad knows what he does, right? I'm sure he does, and the other people on the starship do so, too. He should be safe. Space... is huge. Like- bigger than we could possibly imagine!" Jim didn't look too enthusiastic about the last sentence but nodded so that Leonard would continue speaking. "Anyway! I'm not very fond of it either, if I'm honest, but my mama told me one thing when I told her that it scared me- even only thinking of it!" He paused, noticing that he was the center of Jim's attention by now. "What was it?" Leonard looked at him and gave him a little smile. "We, all of us, are made of the same things as space. The atoms of our bodies equal those of the moon, of Mars and everything _everywhere_ else-" Leonard used his free arm to point at the star he had tried to point out to Jim a few minutes ago already, then pointed at another part of space. "Out there. They're made of the same things and thus we all are interconnected with each other and everything. Like a piece of a giant network or... a garden." Jim was quiet, thinking about Leonard's words. "... Imagine it like that: Your dad and the others, they are like a bee! They fly from flower to flower in a giant flowerbed! Of course, at times there are ladybugs and other insects passing by, but the bee flies on, only to return home to its beehive at the end of the day!" Jim smiled at him, the sadness that had previously filled his small, yet often far to earnest for his age face slowly disappearing. 

"He won't bring home honey though, will he?" Leonard smiled, honestly, at this remark. "Haha! Well, you never know, right?" He saw the small wrinkles forming around Jim's eyes as the younger boy imagined his father returning home, carrying pots of honey. The image his brain created was far too funny and he smiled at it. He would miss his dad, but his best friend was right. He would return home eventually and he would be fine.

"Thank you." The small boy turned around and hugged Leonard tightly, their heads resting against each other's. "Thank you so much."

***

It wasn't until nine years (and two two-year missions for George Kirk) later that this night would repeat itself, only other events being the reason why fifteen-year-old Jim Kirk found himself violently sobbing on the sidewalk just outside Leonard's house again. When he heard the banging sound of the Kirks' front door snapping shut, Leonard didn't stay inside longer than the second it took him to grab two coats from the rack next to the McCoy's front door. He was next to Jim in no time and the other boy was burying his head in his shoulder the same instant. 

It was cold and dark, and whilst wrapping the coat he had brought for Jim around the blond boy, he saw Winona Kirk standing in the doorway, her eyes all red and tears streaming over her face. She stood there for a long moment, unable to decide what to do next, but then just seemed to nod ever so slightly before going back inside the house again.

_Sometimes what appears to be a bee from afar is actually a ladybug, and there are blackbirds flying over the flowerbed, just waiting to take it._

He had promised Jim that his dad would always come back home, all these years ago. And he had always made himself believe so, too.  
Now the two of them stood there, in the cold darkness of the night, crying into each other's necks, a mess of "I'm so, so sorry", "Please never go to space" and "I love you, I wouldn't dare to".

Not far away from them, in the high grass of the Kirk's front garden, a mantis caught a sleeping ladybug off-guard with its attack.

**"Jim, wait!"**

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally intended to only be a ((ending happily)) kid!fic inspired by the song "Cheer Up!" by A Great Big World... I'm not sure what happened while I wrote this, just know that I'm really, really sorry :(
> 
> If anyone wants to listen to the song, you can do so here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdSOxS-UnLk  
> I'll also post this on my drabble blog, www.patsdrabbles.tumblr.com. I might also post shorter things there in the future that might not end up here on AO3, so if you'd like to give me a chance and followed me there, this would be really cool c;
> 
> And now- *hands you all virtual cookies because I'm sorry for this ending* <3


End file.
